Moulting

A Newfoundland dog lying next to its combed-out hair.

Moulting (or molting) is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off part of its body (usually the outer layer or covering) at particular times of year, or at specific points in its life cycle. Moulting is also known as sloughing, shedding, or for some species, ecdysis.

Moulting can involve the epidermis (skin), and hair, fur, wool, or other external layer. In some species, other body parts may be shed, for example, wings in some insects. Examples include old feathers in birds, old hairs in mammals (especially dogs and other canidae), old skin in reptiles, and the entire exoskeleton in arthropods.

Examples

Cicada molting

Species	Item shed	Timing	Known as	Notes
Chickens	Feathers	Usually autumn	Moulting	Chickens generally stop laying eggs before their moulting begins, until their new set of feathers has grown back.
Dogs and other canids	Hair (Fur)	Semi-annually, spring and fall (autumn)	Shedding Moulting	Moulting in canids, as in all mammals, is thought to be due to fluctuations in the amount of melatonin secreted by their pineal gland in response to seasonal sunlight variations. It has nothing to do with seasonal temperature variations. This seasonality in 'shed pattern' is most obvious in Arctic breeds of dogs that shed twice a year; other breeds now shed year round.
Snakes	Skin	Regularly, when old skin is outgrown	Moulting	Snakes will rub against rough surfaces to shed their skin.
Lizards	Skin	Regularly, when old skin is outgrown	Moulting	Lizards consume their shed skin for calcium, grooming, and other nutrients
Hermit crabs	Exoskeleton	Regularly, when the carapace is outgrown	Moulting	Land hermit crabs bury themselves for many weeks while they moult and consume their exoskeleton.
Amphibians	Skin	Regularly	Moulting	Salamanders and frogs shed their skins regularly, and often eat it.

Ecdysis

In arthropods, such as insects, arachnids and crustaceans, moulting is the shedding of the exoskeleton (or shell).

This process of moulting is called ecdysis. It is the defining feature of a whole group of invertebrates, the clade Ecdysozoa. This group includes the arthropods, nematodes, velvet worms, horsehair worms, rotifers, tardigrades and Cephalorhyncha. Since the cuticles of these animals often forms an inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. Amongst fossils, trilobites and eurypterida used ecdysis.

Ecdysis is part of the whole process of metamorphosis. The different stages (called 'instars') and the development of new 'apparatus' (such as sense organs) is necessary as the creature moves from one form to another. The new exoskeleton is initially soft but hardens after the moulting of the old exoskeleton.

Moulting phase of a dragonfly, the Southern Hawker

Moulting Media

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  A dragonfly in its radical final moult, metamorphosing from an aquatic nymph to a winged adult.

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  Loggerhead shrike moulting.

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  Loggerhead shrike with normal plumage.

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  A king penguin with developing replacement feathers, sometimes called pin feathers

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  Mediterranean house gecko1

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  Close up view of snake's moulted skin

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  A black-bearded gliding lizard moulting

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  A moulting yellow-eyed penguin

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  A leopard frog moulting and eating the skin

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  Giant prickly stick insect crawling out of his moulted skin

• A time-lapse video of the final molt of a Brood X cicada. This time-lapse was taken over a period of about 4.5 hours one night, One picture every 10 seconds. The cicada emerges from its exoskeleton, its wings unfurl, then it darkens from the pale yellow that it initally is to black.